Head Coach Search: 3rd Times A Charm - Vogel Agrees To Be Lakers Head Coach

Jeanie will never be removed. The Lakers brand is a global cash cow. The folks over at AEG that I know want to keep her around anyways because of the media relationships, and they own a sizeable chunk of the team too.

 

has the big wigs at AEG ever thought about forcing the Buss out and buying the team out completely?

 

Well @LaVarBallsDad said as fact from his sources that AD liked Williams and was pissed when he was let go. You have been a huge advocate and I agreed of "screw LeBron .... what's most important is get a coach AD wants to play for here in advance. So there was that.

 

I have no sources Those were reports I read at the time, my guy.

 

You're welcome. And yes please do! These things change fast.

It is unclear whether Kurt will be successful in his quest here. He has not been very slick in the way he handles things and it is painfully obvious to those in the know what he is doing.

I also did hear that there is suspicion Kurt is the one leaking some information to Mr. Wojnarowski, hence the twitter about how he is becoming a powerful voice in the organization, without a direct negative spin on it. This is just a suspicion of one individual's though, so do not take it as fact.

The information from Ramona is coming directly from Jeanie, I can confirm that obvious statement. The folks at the L.A. Times and her were begged/threatened by Jeanie recently to stop leaking due to all of the negative publicity about Magic's resignation. She was worried it would come to light that he was actually forced out. That is why you didn't hear anything from the media for a while. Mr. Wojnarowski generally does not have direct lines into the Lakers Front Office, but he does know agents. However once Lue's agent leaked to everyone about the negotiations (he waited a while because he wanted to see if the Lakers would come back with a 5 year deal but they never did), chaos started and Jeanie opened up the media pipeline to Ramona again. However Mr. Wojnarowski is getting some information directly from the Laker's Front Office as well, which is new. Hence the suspicion that Kurt is involved. It would likely be Kurt himself since he has no direct reports in the org to do it for him.

 

Do you know why she doesn't spend some of that money on actual basketball people?

 

Lakers will interview Frank Vogel on Thursday for head coaching position.
And I care less if f***ing LeBron approves this

 

I just assumed you were a psycho in that regard But hey ... PROPS

 

AEG is not interested in owning a team. They are a media company and teams are generally run by a singular person. What they value are the media relationships with the Lakers business operations since that = $$$. Millions in annual revenue comes through that pipeline.

I suppose if they really got upset, they could create enough of a fuss to sell the team. But it would be hard, given how fast the valuations for NBA teams have increased (you can thank the idiot Mr. Ballmer for overpaying for the Clippers for that), she is likely sitting on a future $50BB org - projected in the next 10 years, so it would be tough. And to piss them off that much, it would likely have to be the Lakers pulling out of media deals with AEG. Money talks with these folks, above all else.

 

The trust explicitly has it where Dr. Buss wanted Jeanie to have the final say. Jeanie was intended to run marketing/brand while Jim was intended to run bball ops.

So Jeanie can be ousted, but you would essentially need 1 of Buss kin elects in conjunction with the other 2 non- Buss elect board members to vote Jeanie out.

I got no expertise in law, so maybe another member with background in law practices can help chime in on this one.

 

Jeanie wants little to do with basketball. She is interested in media/business deals to increase the valuation and revenues of the Lakers. Her hope with Magic was that she could hand that part of the org over to him and be done with it. That is why even though she personally liked Walton she let Magic fire him.

What happened is that when Magic was forced out (I can elaborate on this separately, it is very long story), she was lost. She wanted to turn internally for help. Her general go-to folks are Phil and Linda. Her relationships with Phil is tenuous due to the broken engagement, so she asked Linda for advice. Linda is not a basketball person, so she suggested Kurt, and that led to what we now have today.

Linda's suggestion of Kurt was a soft one. She could not recommend him to run bball ops because of his lack of experience. Initially Jeanie suggested letting Pelinka handle it, but Linda smartly pointed out he knows little about NBA coaching. Hence Kurt tagged along, and slowly has been rising up from there.

With regards to President of Basketball Operations, Jeanie is interested in having a big name there for $$ reasons. Magic Johnson was perfect, but of course he is a shady manager. Jeanie has been calling Kobe every other day to take over, as that would generate positive publicity. But he is smart and has doubled down on the fact that he has no interest. Hint: The recent interviews/TV appearances where he was asked if he would be interested - those questions were forced in by AEG at Jeanie's request to put pressure on Kobe. But he handled it well.

 

If the Lakers get Hollins or another coach, Rambis may want a temporary role of assistant coach. But I'm told his eyes are on the PBO position. Even if he is not given the title due to optics, he wants that power. Linda is helping him along the way. So far he has been successful but he has not done a good job at hiding his intentions. Very amateur like from a man of his experience level. Generally if you want to rise up an org quickly you should be more subtle. It may come back to hurt him, due to the media frenzy.

 

Right. I’d like to see these options too

 

I was thinking the same thing. Even some of the homers who depend on access are turning on them.

 

Yeah. I’m just limping then both together for right now

 

It is saying you are a staff member. I was thinking if it would be appropriate to make a Q&A topic thread where I can answer questions or ask the right people and get back. Should I go ahead and do that?

Regarding Magic, lots to unpack here. I can give a brief summary and provide more details as needed. But he was a shady man. He was trying to use the Lakers position to increase his brand value and make more money from other deals. This is why you heard the reports about him rarely being around the office. He would come in, yell at a few people, and then leave for weeks to work on other ventures. This is why the lack of Twitter bothered him as well. He is used to everything going his way, and wanted to shake up the whole org structure by firing everyone, including Nunez, Pelinka, and Walton. Jeanie let him do Walton and Nunez but protected Pelinka due to his relationship with Kobe. He was also irresponsible for letting his direct reports leak a lot to the media.

After signing LeBron, Magic had a god complex and thought he was a much better exec than he was. This is why the Davis deal talks went so poorly.

Ultimately the icing on the cake was an article about Magic's harassment of employees. ESPN was working on it but Jeanie begged the guys I work with over at AEG to shut it down. They thought it was too big of a media risk given the current climate about these things and pushed him out, threatening to leak the article if he didn't leave. They were fed up with him for other reasons but this pushed them over the edge. Magic couldn't have that and angrily resigned, and to stick it to the Lakers he did it in the amateur like fashion you saw - right before a game and without telling the players.

 

Since you're connected... what was the deal with DLO?
We hava a poster here, who knows... but won't tell us (reportedly, kid had some serious off court issues)